Names ending in a

An attractive update to Gladys.

Gladiola is a character in the 1991 novel and 1995 film How to Make an American Quilt

Overly teasable.

Sounds a bit pharmaceutical.

An obscure medieval saint’s name which nevertheless sounds pretty on-trend right now: a softer alternative to Matilda, perhaps. If you're searching for Spanish names for girls, this can make an unusual but usable choice.

This fairly obscure saint's name was chosen by Oscar-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden for one of her twins.

Simple, delicate, and unusual.

Sultry name given added interest by that double 'a'.

Lorca is a Spanish place name from the province of Navarre, but more famous as the last name of the eminent Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, who was the direct inspiration for the name of Leonard Cohen's daughter Lorca.

Ayva is a new entry in the popular Ava and Eva cluster. Its only advantage over the original is that it clarifies pronunciation....but that's not much of a problem if you simply spell it Ava.

Nana, most often used for girls as a a short form of Anna or Nancy, is an African name for boys meaning king or in some translations, "born on Tuesday." Isaac Hayes used the name for his son.

The name of an American cosmetics company which was inspired by the ancient traditional medicine practices known as Ayurveda, literally "knowledge of longevity" in Sanskrit. Unfortunately, when shortened to Aveda, the literal meaning in Sanskrit becomes "not knowledge" – no doubt not what the company's founder intended. If you can get past this, a pretty and evocative name associated with holistic health and beauty.

A Portuguese and German variant of Lucia which was particularly popular in Brazil during the 20th century.

Anima is a name that could work in so many languages, blessed as it is with easy spelling and pronunciation. It works equally well in the East and in the West, as its roots can either come from Latin, where it means "soul", or from Sanskrit, where it means "minute, tiny".

This name was borne by Ashoka the Great, a 3rd-century BC emperor of India, and inspired the Star Wars character name Ahsoka.

Anatolian city visited by Paul in the Bible, though risks sounding a tad antiseptic.